Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-11-05
FRENCH SPECIALISTS OBSERVATIONS
The Mysteries Of Right and Lcft-Lsff-
handed People-Criminala.

handed PeOple-Criminals.
Some French specialists have recently
been making observations with q view to
calculating some mysteries in this matter
OF right and left. One of them, in order
to determine whether it is true that men
are born with the right side more devel-
oped than the left, has weighed, with
every precautiOn to render his experiments
accurate, the limbs Of eleven infants Of
less than 2 years Of age-in the dissecting
room of course. He measured the bones
OF the arms and limbs, but in neither in
stance did he find much difference. though
the variations were sufficient to lead him
to the conclusion that though right and
let depend partially on heredity, it is
even more directly attributable to educa-
tion-that is, to the fact that in regard to
the two hands the child is never per-
mitted, nor is the adult, for that matter,
to use them injiscriminately.
Another French specialist has examined
the teeth with results which he considers
more convincing. In sixty-four subjects,
taken Unfortunately, he found that
forty-one had defects of various kinds ON
the left side and only twenty-five defects
or anomalies on the right This was ow
ing to the general enfeeblement OF the le,L
at The expense of the opposite side, which
is more favored by exercise, and possibly
by the freer circulation Of the blood TIE
left side OF the jaw is weaker and less
healthy. 1t was observed by the sarIe
specialist that in the case of left handed
persons the defects were mostly on the
right. Left handed persons are rare in all
countries, though the number might be
increased by education. Delaunay, a
French author, counts one for every forty
LambrosO, an Italian writer, found among
6sl wOrkingmen twenty seven who were
left handed and q little more than per
cent. who were ambitlexterous. Among
100 Bersaglieri, that Is, soldiers of the
mountain regiments, he found 5 per cent.
8mbidexters, and on another occasion
thirteen left handed and one ambidexter
among 23S workmen
Another observer found among the chill
dren Of a boarding school 12 per cent left
handed and 80 per cent. using both hands.
A person born left handed can be taught
to use his right hand with considerable
skill though he Is always ready to resort
to the left when he Is in danger, because
it Is the stronger. Left handed persons,
that is, those born so, are said by some
psychologists to be degenerated, and some
sort Of mental inferiOrity or eccentricity
accompanies the defect, as is usually the
case with persons afflicted with strabis-
mus, harelip, prognathism or other physi
cal reculiarities in the nature Of deformi-
ty. Il has been remarked that there is
CT lsiderable per cent. Of left handed
,mong the insane, and two Italian ply
yicians found among ninety insane pa
.ients seventy three whose sensibility
was greater ON the left side than ON
the right. The criminal instinct seems
stronger among left handed than among
right handed people. DR.. Mario, an
italian, found in given number Of male
criminals nearly IA per cent. left handed
and % per cent. among the female delin
quents-that is to say, for the men three
times the proportion found among honest
people, and for female criminals four
times the proportion. No one need then
desire to be born left handed, since this
class is handicapped with either physical
or mental disease, demOralizing il not
serious. This need not prevent children
born right handed from being taught the
use Of the left, that they may use either.
according to necessity. That this can be
done is shown by the rapidity with which
persons who have lost the right hand or
arm acquire the adrOit use Of the other.
1t may be said that as regards the use of
the right hand and the left man is the
subject Of heredity without being abso-
lutely its slave.-San Francisco Chronicle